Florida Rock Climbing

We have a climbing trip coming up at the end of September, so Katie and I wanted to do our best to stay in shape for that trip. Luckily we found a climbing gym in St. Petersburg called Vertical Ventures that was only 25 minutes north from where we were staying in Florida. We basically just had to cross over the Tampa Bay via the Sunshine Skybridge Bridge.

Pricing wise, this place could not have worked out better. They had a deal for new climbers that if you take their belay class, it comes with a two week membership to the gym all for $25. So even though it was a little annoying to take another belay class/test for the millionth time this year, it was totally worth it to get that 2 week unlimited climbing membership. We ended up climbing there 5 times across those 2 weeks so essentially we paid $5 a person per visit. 

The gym was setup a little strange. They had one pretty wide main section geared towards newer climbers. This section was not quite as tall and had either pre-setup belay stations (kind of like what we used in Australia) or an auto-belay system that takes up the slack as a climber ascends and safely controls the descent when a climber lets go or falls. The climbs in that section that were supposedly at our difficulty level were crazy pumpy and a little frustrating to climb. We mainly used this area for warm up/cool down runs or endurance training. 

The main climbing area

They had a taller climbing section called The Pit where we could do the normal type of belaying. We of course had to get a second safety check to use this section. But it was totally worth it because these climbs were much more our style. Only one corner of the pit had ropes setup to do top rope. The rest were overhung and meant for lead climbing. We never got around to getting certified to lead there because that would have meant that we'd have to rent a rope. There were some really fun 5.11's and even a 5.12 that we both projected and were really close to getting clean before we left. There was also one auto-belay station in this section, which we saw some people ingeniously using for lead clipping practice. The Pit was definitely our favorite part of the gym. It's a shame they don't have more walls like that one because they were set very well.

The pit which had some taller and more enjoyable climbs 

The last thing to mention was the bouldering area. They again had some really good features and setting in this area. We both worked our way through some interesting projects. Overall though, Katie did much better in that section than I did. It, like most other bouldering gyms, was a cruel reminder to me how far I still have to go at being a good bouldering style climber.

The bouldering area

Would we want this gym to be our home gym? Probably not. Despite having a new facility and new walls, it felt like they were under-utilizing their space. The one section we really liked only had 6 ropes, and some of those ropes only had one climb under it. They did at least switch out a couple of the routes even within just those two weeks. So maybe they'd have good enough route turn over that we'd stay entertained. But its hard to say. There was also a work out/training area and classes available that we did not have time to make use of, so maybe that perk would outweigh the other cons. Either way it was at least great place to go for our two weeks in Florida.

Katie warming up on an easier boulder problem

Katie working a pretty difficult 5.11 route on the auto-belay

Me working that same 5.11 problem